Chattanooga 3, Kennesaw State 0
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ? Senior middle blocker Leslee Ball (Sycamore, Ill.) pounded a match-high 14 kills and senior setter Bethany Herndon (Richmond, Texas) recorded a team-high 30 assists to lead Chattanooga (8-6, 3-0) to a 3-0 victory over Kennesaw State (2-15, 0-1 A-Sun) Tuesday evening at Maclellan Gym in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Lady Mocs defeated the Owls 30-13, 30-18 and 30-22 to win their sixth consecutive match and post their fifth straight shutout.
Chattanooga jumped ahead early in Game 1, taking leads of 9-3 and 14-5 before the Owls pulled to within seven points at 17-10. That would be as close as they would get as the Lady Mocs, fueled by three kills from Ball and two each from senior outside hitter Jamie Engel (Troy, Ill.) and junior right side hitter Laura Nethery (Hixson, Tenn.), put together a 13-3 run to close out the game 30-13 and take a 1-0 match lead. Nethery recorded five of her seven kills in the game.
The Lady Mocs picked up right where they left off in Game 1, jumping out to leads of 4-0 and 8-3 at the start of Game 2. It wouldn’t get any better for Kennesaw State as UTC continued to pull away and extended their lead to 16-8 by capitalizing off of a number of Owl miscues. Chattanooga would go on to wrap up the game 30-18 to secure a 2-0 match lead.
Game 3 was a different story, however, as KSU put up a fight to keep the match alive. After a 9-4 run by the Lady Mocs to begin the game, the Owls rallied to tie the score at 10-10 with a 6-1 run, and would tie the score again at 13-13, before Chattanooga pulled back ahead 20-15. Kennesaw State would get to within four points twice, the last time at 26-22, before three kills over the next four points led the Lady Mocs to a 30-22 Game 3 victory and their sixth consecutive win.
Sophomore setter Ginny Frederick paced the Owls with 20 assists while sophomore outside hitter Jenny Black posted a team-high nine kills. Sophomore libero Selina O’Leary finished with a match-high 10 digs and redshirt freshman outside hitter Sabrita Gulley added seven kills and nine digs. Sophomore middle hitter Rachel Odom added a match-high four blocks.
For Chattanooga, Leslee Ball paced all hitters with 14 kills and finished with a team-high nine digs while Nethery posted a .556 hitting percentage, connecting for seven kills in nine attempts. Senior middle blocker Sarah Bass (Baton Rouge, La.) added eight kills while junior setter Michaela Huff (Dallas, Texas) finished with eight digs.
The Lady Mocs have now won six consecutive matches and shutout their last five opponents.
The Lady Mocs will be back in action on Saturday, September 29, when they travel to Statesboro, Georgia to take on the Georgia Southern Eagles. First serve for the Southern Conference match is set for 7 p.m.
Furman 3, Gardner-Webb 0
GREENVILLE, S.C. ? The Furman volleyball team defeated Gardner-Webb 3-0 tonight in their last non-conference match of the season.
The Paladins hit .342 as a team in the first game, and topped the Running Bulldogs 30-23. In the second game, Furman held the lead the entire game, ultimately winning 30-24.
The third game was all Furman, as the Paladins went on a 20-7 run to win the game 30-17.
The Bulldogs were led by Ashley Pridgeon, who notched 11 kills.
Gardner-Webb’s defense was led by libero Katy Matykowski with 14 digs.
The Paladins were led by junior Alison West, who recorded 17 kills and 10 digs. Senior Chibuzo Aguocha added 8 kills, and libero Stephanie Smith led the defense with 17 digs. The Paladins totaled 10 blocks as a team.
With the win, the Paladins improve to 9-3, while Gardner-Webb falls to 8-10. Furman continues conference play on Friday with a match against Elon.
The Citadel 1, USC Upstate 3
Charleston, S.C. ? Freshman Amanda Beal recorded eight total blocks, setting a career high and tying the fourth-best total block mark in a match in school history, while setter Emily Hill hit a team-best .417 in the match as the Bulldogs dropped a 3-1 midweek decision to USC Upstate Tuesday night. USC Upstate was led by Jesicah Ambrisco’s 24 kills and .351 hitting percentage.
Junior Rachel Sanders set a career high with 25 kills, placing her second in the school’s all-time chart for kills in a match. Despite recording a season-high 11.0 total team blocks, The Citadel (2-13, 0-4 Southern) struggled to finish as they dropped the four-game match with scores of 30-27, 25-30, 30-28 and 30-27.
“Both teams were evenly matched tonight,” said head coach Carolyn Geiger. “They blocked well and played solid defense. We had several players with personal bests but in the end, a loss is a loss.”
A close opening game was marked with six tie scores and six lead changes early on but the Spartans (5-9, 0-2 Atlantic Sun) took the final lead of the game at the 11-10 mark. The Bulldogs went down by as many as seven points at the 23-16 mark before rallying back to pull within one at the 28-27 mark with a Sanders kill. However, an Upstate kill followed by a Tatum Jestila attack error sealed the first game victory for the Spartans.
The Citadel serving game proved to be the deciding factor in the second set with the Bulldogs serving up five aces and no errors while Upstate served up two aces and one error. Three of those five aces came from freshman Caitlin Vyborny while Hill served up the other two. The Bulldogs outhit Upstate, .294 to .174, in the 30-25 game two victory.
The Bulldogs fell in a close game three despite leading almost all of the statistical categories. Outkilling the Spartans 20-17, the Bulldogs also outhit their opponents .241 to .218 while outblocking USC Upstate 2-1. The Cadets also registered 30 digs to the Spartans’ 23 in the 30-28 loss to Upstate. Down 28-27 late in the match, Upstate notched four straight points to clinch the game with two of the four points coming from kills by Upstate’s Katie Downey.
Upstate led throughout most of the fourth game before The Citadel would rally late to take a 27-24 lead. A Jovana Lubura kill, followed by three consecutive block assists by Tijana Knezevic and Angie Varnum, gave Upstate with final advantage as the Spartans clinched the match with a 30-27 fourth game victory.
The Citadel returns to Southern Conference action this weekend as they play at Appalachian State on Friday, Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. in Boone, N.C. The Bulldogs then play at Davidson on Saturday, Sept. 29 in a 2 p.m. match.
Elon 1, High Point 3
HIGH POINT, N.C. - Elon's volleyball squad fell 3-1 (30-28, 30-19, 19-30, 30-26) in a non-conference match Tuesday night at High Point. The Phoenix falls to 7-9 on the season, while the High Point Panthers improve to 9-6.
Lauren Copenhagen logged her second double-double of the season, tallying 10 kills and a season-high 18 digs. Mandy Wilson led Elon with 13 kills, while Emily Lucci had eight blocks, while posting her third double-double with 10 kills and 11 digs. Britany Wesphal also tallied 10 kills for Elon.
The Phoenix fell in game one, despite posting 17 kills to the Panther's 13. Lucci and Wilson combined for two solid blocks on defense, while Jessica Barrow led the squad offensively with five kills. Elon's poor hitting (.148) allowed the Panthers ample opportunities to score, and eventually led to a 30-28 win and a 1-0 advantage for High Point.
In the second frame, with High Point up 18-16, the Panthers scored 11 unanswered points to take a 29-16 advantage. Elon mounted a meager comeback, scoring three points before High Point took the game 30-19. Wilson and Copenhagen tallied four kills each for the Phoenix.
Elon's offense exploded in the third game, as the squad used two scoring runs to jump out to an early lead. The Phoenix jumped out to a 6-0 advantage, followed closely by a seven point run to give Elon a 14-6 lead. Elon hit .375 in game three, behind five kills from Copenhagen and four from Westphal, as it went on to win 30-19.
The Phoenix dropped the fourth frame 30-26, despite small rally attempts to catch the Panthers. Westphal led the squad with four kills in the final frame.
Setters Natalie Moore and Emily Regan dished out 30 and 20 assists, respectively, while Kelley Blakewood had 19 digs.
Elon will return to SoCon action Friday night as the Phoenix hosts Furman at 7 p.m. in Alumni Gym.